Benjamin Wachs: He who wins by the Tweet may govern by the Tweet

Benjamin Wachs

Tuesday

Apr 28, 2009 at 12:01 AMApr 28, 2009 at 2:39 PM

In late April, Gavin Newsom, the mayor of San Francisco, announced — over Twitter — that he is running for governor of California. The reason he did that, according to his staff, is that doing so makes him more like Barack Obama.

I’m pretty sure that out there somewhere is a guy who thinks that the moral of the Parable of the Prodigal Son is “invest in agriculture.”

It can be awfully easy to miss the point in a big way.

In late April, Gavin Newsom, the mayor of San Francisco, announced — over Twitter — that he is running for governor of California. The reason he did that, according to his staff, is that doing so makes him more like President Barack Obama.

Senior campaign adviser Gary South explained Newsom’s Twitter- and Facebook-based campaign to the San Francisco Chronicle this way: “The Obama campaign changed politics in America forever, from top to bottom. And anyone who tries to use the old model will find, like Hillary Clinton did, that it doesn’t work anymore.”

Sure. That had to be the lesson of Barack Obama’s campaign: More Twitter. What else could it be?

Never mind that despite having a Twitter following that dwarfs any other candidate, Gavin Newsom is trailing badly in the polls. Never mind that, as a matter of fact, Hillary Clinton actually won the California primary. Never mind that, prior to this moment, Gavin Newsom’s most notable use of “new media” was a “state of the city” address that he gave only to YouTube: It was 7.5 hours, and yet he never once mentioned his city’s budget deficit (yes, that really happened).

Never mind the specifics of this ridiculous case. Because, despite the self-evident absurdity of the proposition, politicians across the country are buying into it. An awful lot of political insiders are claiming that new technology, as exemplified by Barack Obama, is going to permanently transform the political landscape.

John McCain now Twitters. Elected officials at every level are on MySpace. Much in the way that people used to complain that if you weren’t in Iowa or New Hampshire, your presidential primary vote never counted, political consultants are now eager to say that if he’s not on Facebook, a politician doesn’t really count.

Let’s take a deep breath.

The idea that Obama won the presidency because of his online presence is so overblown it could float in a parade. Having a strong online presence can indeed make a candidate formidable, as it did for Howard Dean in 2004, back when he was the undisputed political king of new media. But it won’t stop a candidate from collapsing if the voters decide they don’t like him, as proven by Howard Dean in 2004, back when he was the undisputed political king of new media.

Barack Obama won because his message fit the times, and because voters liked him. And his breakthrough came in Iowa, where all politics is face to face.

Despite his online presence, Obama actually lost more of the bigger state primaries, where he had less opportunity to meet voters and run an effective ground operation. In the general election, his campaign massively outspent McCain on TV ads for a reason. It’s likely that Obama’s victories did more to support his new media presence than his new media presence did to support his victories.

Still, it’s true that Americans have increasingly come to blur the boundaries between politicians and celebrities. And in this regard, the danger isn’t that a politician can win using Twitter and Facebook, but that they can govern through them.

These technologies, after all, are designed to reduce the flow of information — to restrict dialogue to soundbytes, and bytes of soundbytes. That’s why they’re perfect for celebrities, with whom we reasonably expect to have one way relationships, and whom we never hold accountable for their actions.

If we regard politicians as celebrities rather than public servants, if we think it’s legitimate for them to speak in 140 characters or less and not listen, then that’s all we’ll get. A governor — or a president — who thinks that 140 characters is enough will never give us more.

Never trust a politician who spends more time with Facebook than he does actually talking with his constituents. If that’s how he campaigns, you can bet it’s how he’ll govern.

Obama is not that president. But I don’t know about the next guy.

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